This research project will examine the potential conflict between the theoretical benefits of phenotypic plasticity and constraints imposed by preformation, a common developmental pattern in plants of the pemperate environment. The project will provide new insights into the potential for normal processes of plant development to circumscribe the conditions under which phenotypic plasticity may be expected to evolve. %%% Research of this type could have outputs of economic and agronomic importance in that commercial varieties of major food crops are bred for specific environmental conditions and are notoriously unadaptable to new or different environmental conditions.
